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Thought-provoking, argumentative, outspoken, and enjoyable, that’s what the 2013 Vanier College Humanities Symposium is aiming for with a stellar line-up of world renowned thinkers coming to Vanier February 4-8, 2013.

Stanley FishOn February 7, at 11:30 a.m. Stanley Fish, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and currently the Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor of Humanities and Law at Florida International University, will address the long-standing question, “What Are the Humanities Worth?” The author of more than 200 publications, Stanley Fish is, according to Geoffrey Harpham, “perhaps the most quoted, most controversial, most in-demand, and most feared English teacher in the world, and one of the very best essayists in any field.”

Charles TaylorOn Tuesday, February 5, at 4 p.m. Charles Taylor, professor emeritus at McGill University, member of the Order of Canada and winner of both the Templeton and Kyoto International Prizes, will discuss how the humanities can contribute to the understanding of religion, and respect between different religions.

Mark KingwellOn Friday, February 8, at 2:15 p.m., Professor Mark Kingwell, author of more than a dozen books and visiting lecturer at the University of Cambridge, City University of New York, and University of California at Berkeley, will close the Symposium with his talk: “Unknown Knowns: Thinking Beyond the Frame.”

Jean-Claude Guédon, Rawi Hage, Margaret Somerville, Andrew ReinerOther speakers include Jean-Claude Guédon, professor of comparative literature from the Université de Montréal and winner of the 2005 Excellence Prize for the Society of Digital Humanities and writer Rawi Hage, winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (2008) and the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction (2012) for his book, Carnival. The symposium also welcomes Margaret Somerville, Samuel Gale Professor of Law at McGill and the Founding Director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law; and Andrew Reiner who teaches contemplative studies at Towson University. Reiner discusses the “UnHoly Text” and the forgotten virtues of “wireless” contemplation.

Included also, are Vanier College Humanities teachers, Sevak Manjikian (Islamic Art), Martha Bernstein (Medicine, Philosophy, and Science), and Timothy Budde (The Mystery of Manuscripts), former Vanier teacher, Jim Najarian (Post WWII Music and Cultural Change) and Vanier Humanities Department’s, Nathan Loewen who will host “Humanities Jeopardy,” testing the general knowledge of students and teachers.

See the schedule of this year’s symposium, entitled, contemplation, action, speech for details on allevents.